All posts tagged ‘Wayne and Layne’

I’m a fan of Lego robotics. I’ve written over half a dozen books on the Lego Mindstorms NXT robotic system, and tinkering and prototyping with the NXT just never gets old. (And there’s a NEW system coming out later this year — EV3 — that I cannot wait to get my hands on!) The same goes for the Arduino microcontroller. Once I started diving deeper into the electronics hobby and discovered the Arduino, all sorts of projects started developing in my head. Unfortunately, the NXT hobby and the Arduino hobby have been kept in their own separate sandboxes in my office. It’s not that they can’t get along… it’s just that I haven’t really spent much time investigating how best to combine these two hobbies.

Thankfully, the investigation has been done by someone else, leaving me more time to play and experiment. GeekDad’s very own John Baicthal has joined Matthew Beckler and Adam Wolf (co-founders of Wayne and Layne) to release Make: Lego and Arduino Projects. Just like other Make: books, it’s a high-quality, full-color book that lays flat and looks great. It’s part of the Learn by Discovery series, and it contains a straightforward introduction to combining NXT robotics with the Arduino using a mix of projects (six in all) and easy-to-understand discussions on a variety of topics that include the basics of electronics, a breakdown of the NXT and Arduino systems, and advanced building and programming techniques. Continue Reading “Best of Both Worlds: Make: Lego and Arduino Projects” »